BY DALE GOODNER
We have a growing dilemma, a potential catastrophe, that is hiding in plain sight. Insect populations all over the world are disappearing. What we are losing are the “good guys,” –– countless beneficial insects, such as bees, moths, butterflies, ladybugs, mayflies, fireflies –– all in serious decline.
Dr. May Berenbaum, entomologist at the University of Illinois (and recipient of several awards, including the prestigious National Medal of Science), is seeing what she calls an “arthropocalypse.”
The ecological value of pollination of plants by insects is so immense as to be incalculable. Just as an example, it’s estimated that 35% of the world’s human food plants are insect pollinated. We are dependent on these incredible tiny animals, and they need our help.
About 170 million years ago (Cretaceous Period), something truly magical happened. Flowering plants (angiosperms) were developing and started a close relationship known as mutualism with insects. Two very different species teamed up for their mutual benefit. The plants provided food and the insects, in turn, accomplished that crucial role of pollination.
The plants employed principles of advertising: color and pattern. This was to attract the attention of insects, like a sign advertising “Restaurant.” In visiting other plants of that species, the insects inadvertently delivered precious pollen, thus helping insure that species’ survival and dispersal.
The world gradually became covered with colorful flowers. Flowering plants and insects coevolved so effectively they have taken advantage of every ecological opportunity available. The result is an amazing assortment of bright showy flowers of all colors, shapes, sizes and fragrances.
Recent human activities, ranging from habitat loss to industrial agricultural practices, to landscape spraying have become so pervasive as to threaten other species, insects in particular. The problem with chemical poisons is simply that they don’t know when to quit. We need to minimize use of toxic sprays.
But that’s not enough. Exotic Eurasian plants are foreign to our native pollinators. While they do provide nectar and pollen, they don’t provide the crucial food for native insect larvae which feed on foliage.
In our home landscape here in Wisconsin, we plant mostly natives and use no pesticides or herbicides. Not only does this make our yard healthier for wildlife, it’s also a huge benefit for us, our friends and family who visit (especially our little granddaughter). The typical weed killers, whether personally or professionally applied to urban yards, are known endocrine disruptors and can cause cancers such as lymphoma and leukemia and can accumulate (from shoes) making even indoor floors and carpeting toxic.
We live near Lake Michigan and get a lot of insects and spiders. I washed excessive spider webbing and debris off our windows several times a summer for the first few years. But as we planted native plants, and as these occupied an increasing percentage of our landscape, birds, bees, and wasps became more abundant and window washing chores diminished.
I came up with “Dale’s First Law of Native Landscaping:” The more diversity of NATIVE flora and fauna in your landscape, the fewer pest issues.
Thanks to our growing landscape, our house is now home not just to us, but also to an increasing variety of native flowers, shrubs, trees, insects, and birds. From our yard, birds get only organic, free range spiders and insects…health food for their nestlings.
The solution to our growing dilemma starts with each of us,
For more information, Google Dr. Doug Tallamy, pollinators, beneficial insects.
Dale Goodner was supervisor of environmental and interpretive services at Peoria Park District before retiring and moving to Wisconsin where he teaches and writes about the natural world.